(Source: Trains Magazine, April 28, 2022)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Utilities are worried that the slowdown in coal deliveries could threaten U.S. electricity supply and destabilize the power grid. Chemical producers say erratic rail service has forced them to curtail production of essentials like chlorine used to treat public drinking water systems and the plastics used in medical products. And one of the nation’s largest retailers of diesel fuel, renewable diesel, ethanol, and diesel exhaust fluid says Union Pacific’s plan to cut its shipments by 50% will create fuel shortages, bring trucking to a halt, and raise prices at the pump. Those were among the shipper concerns raised on April 27 during a second day of Surface Transportation Board (STB) hearings on railroad service problems that have been created by a shortage of train crews.
Full story: Trains Magazine